HEPATITIS - C VIRUS INFECTION, ENHANCING SILENT EPEDEMIC OF CORONARY ARTERY DISEASE

Abstract

Hepatitis C virus, small, single stranded, RNA virus, identified for the first time in 1989, is a major health care concern worldwide but more so in developing countries like Pakistan.It has become increasingly evident that HCV infection is a systemic disease and can induce diseases of many organs. Hepatitis C related vasculitic, metabolic and endocrinal disorders have drawn attention of many researchers.Coronary artery disease is the most common heart disease with multifactorial etiology. Atherosclerosis being the principal cause has plagued human kind since ancient times.The mechanism for the development of angiitis may be either direct colonization of vasculature by the pathogens19 or a stimulation of an inflammatory cascade20, causing changes in the vessel wall, such as thickening, weakening, narrowing and scarring.HCV infection induces steatosis and increases TNF-, both resulting in the development of insulin resistance and subsequent type 2 diabetes mellitus.It is common in HCV associated membranous proliferative glomerulonephritis, present in majority of the patients at the onset of the disease and is often severe and difficult to control.